A Short History of Fencing

Fencing is probably one of the oldest games in existence, for it sprang directly from the duel, andthe latter has been extant as long as there has been war. In the old days there were duels betweentwo persons, and often between two whole armies, depending on the conditions of war. TheGermanic tribes which swarmed over the Empire at the fall of Rome were perhaps the earliestpeople to recognize combat with swords as a means of settling questions of justice or ofvindicating a grievance.Under the Germanic influence the duel spread all over Christendom. Even as early as the reign ofCharlemagne it was admitted as material proof in the judgments of God. This practice continuedthroughout the Middle Ages, as an integral part of chivalry.It was under the rule of their Catholic Majesties of Spain that the duel first came under officialban, by the law of the city of Toledo in 1480. Curiously enough, it is shortly before this time thatwe find the first book on fencing, Treatise on Arms, by Diego de Valera, which was writtenbetween 1458 and 1471, and which marks the birth of fencing as a scientific art.Some time later, when Spain became the leading power of Europe, the Spanish armies carriedfencing abroad and particularly into the south of Italy, then one of the main battlefields of thenations. By that time fencing had also developed in the north of Italy where it was taught in theuniversities side by side with law, in such cultural centres as Bologna and Venice, which werethen attracting students from every country in Europe.If scientific fencing started first in Spain it was in Italy that we find the first great schools wherea fencing tradition was soon established through the lessons and the writings of many famousmaster.The weapons were at first used chiefly for offensive purposed, blows being avoided by bodyshifts; later the defense was entrusted to some implement carried by the left arm, a shield, adagger, or a cloak.As fencing gained in subtlety and efficiency the weapons became lighter and this developed theuse of the sword for parrying to the exclusion of anything else. The Italians preserved in theirswords the old cross-bar of the Middle Ages, cutting of the edges so that the bar would notprotrude over the circular guard. The French, on the other hand, eliminated the cross-bar entirely,thus losing some of the strength of the weapon but adding to the ease of its handling. Duringthese changes the old Spanish swords, which were gradual modification of the chivalricweapons, passed into the museums, as the armies of Europe came to employ the sabre' and laterthe modern firearm.It was not until 1900 that Spain, the mother of scientific fencing, came to have a distinct schoolof her own, under the Spanish master, Don Adelardo Sanz. The Spanish weapon is a modifiedform of the Italian cross-bar, so shaped as to facilitate the action of the thumb and index finger in

securing the dexterity of the French weapon while preserving the strength of the Italian sword. Insome parts of Europe it is called the Portuguese foil.These three schools of fencing which today differ little except insofar as the peculiarities of eachtype of weapon demand, dominate fencing all over the world. The Italian school predominates inItaly, Hungary, Austria, South America and Germany.The French school predominates in France, England, the United States, and Central America.The Spanish school predominates in Spain and Portugal.Each has had its share of great fencing masters: men like Greco, Pini, Pessina, and Nadi, in Italy;Kirchoffer, Merignac, Rue, and Gaudin in France; Sanz and Carbonel in Spain.Italian fencing at the end of the seventeenth century divided into two separate schools, theBolognese or Italian proper, and the Neapolitan; rivalries between the two schools and thegeneral backwardness of the century brought indifference towards fencing, and a revivaloccurred only at the time of the Napoleonic wars when the enthusiasm for everything militarygave rebirth to fencing.For a while the French school predominated until a revival of the national spirit brought back theprinciples of the old Italian schools which found new followers and supporter: finally, a so-calledmixed school, embodying the best principles of the Italian and French schools, was generallyadopted.The chief contribution of the French to this mixed school was to make the disengage acontinuous movement, simultaneous with the lunge. The classical Italian school had made thefeint of a disengage and the following lunge distinct movements, and this change revolutionizedfencing in Italy.In 1861 with the founding of the Accademia Nazionale d'Scherme, Naples, became the centre offencing but it was soon overcome in importance by other centres, such as Milan, Leghorn, andRome. The rivalry between the north and south still persisted for a while but, at present, thedifferences in the teachings of the various masters in Italy are only variations of a unified system.

History in The United States and South America

Fencing begins to appear as a popular sport on this side of the Atlantic only recently, that is since1900. Under the leadership of the great Italian master Eugene Pini in the Argentine, and underthe French master, Lucien Merignac, in Mexico and some Spanish masters in Cuba, thesecountries made considerable progress at the turn of the century.taken from "The Theory and Practice of Fencing" by Julio Martinex Castello 1933http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~fencing/oldweb/history/fencinghistory.html

Before there were swordsmen, there were warrior customs involving swords-play. Theseone on one sword matches were usually fought over property or a criminal act; also knownas "Trials By Combat." In these "Trials By Combat," you were fighting for your guilt orinnocence.Centuries later, sword fights were still being fought over property and criminal acts, but inthis age of chivalry, new customs were being added, including: loyalty to church, loyalty tohis master, and loyalty to his family. Single combat was used to resolve disputes overloyalty, bravery, or truth.Knights during this time period, lived and died by these codes of chivalry. In combat, thesecodes of chivalry were: that vanquished, or wounded knights should not be left to die onthe battlefield (Commoners and soldiers were outside of this code and could be leftbehind). If a knight was captured, he was a man of his word, and could be trusted; hewould not try to escape or harm his captors.Throughout history, there have been codes upheld by swordsmen. True swordsmanshipdid not evolve until approximately the early part of the 1500's. At this time, there was aworldwide explosion of swordsmanship. About 1450 A.D., fencing guilds started to appearin Germany. As the swords improved, new skills were developed. These skills were whatmade the swordsmen.The first sword, which honed the skills of a swordsmen, was the Katana. The advent of theKatana was about 700 A.D., and at that time the Katana was much larger, (as long as 5 ft.),and might have been used to cut down horses, as well as riders. The testing of a greatKatana was executed upon slaves, by seeing if the blade would go completely through thebody with a single cut. By the early part of the 1500's, the Katana had become muchshorter, and over a 800 years time span, Japan had many swordmasters with skills ofmythic proportion.European weapons had evolved over this time period as well. European weapons hadbecome lighter, and more well balanced, which resulted in the development of the cut andthrust sword; and eventually the Rapier.The Rapier went through the same sizing changes as the Katana, starting out at almost 6 ft.The rapier was a thrusting weapon, therefore, the swordsmen would use their dagger,sword, cloak, hand, and buckler to parry with. Swordsplay was now no longer combat, butan art, almost a dance. This made people develop a romance with swordsmanship. Nowthe upper class had an infatuation with swordsmanship, and their combats were now calledduels. Unlike "Trials By Combat", dueling was about honor and no longer about justice. Aman was judged by his composure, not who the victor was.

In Europe, (especially France), during the 16th Century, forbidden duels of honor becamethe new fashion. Historians attribute the popularity of dueling, at this time, to the publishingof how to manuals on swordsmanship as well as fencing academies. In the mid 16thCentury the French Fencing Academy was recognized by King Charles IX, and the fencingpositions: Prime, Seconde, Tierce, Quatre, and the lunge were defined.Almost anything could provoke a duel. It may be as simple as how a man chews his food,or as complex as insulting someone's friends or family. Insults to a man's integrity wouldcertainly provoke a duel, but however, once you have crossed the line of invading a man'spersonal space, there was no way out of a duel, for touching a man in anger was thebiggest affront to his honor.Once a man was disgraced, he then issued a challenge to the person who he was insultedby. In the 16th-17th Centuries, this challenge was delivered by a second. A second wasusually a close friend you trusted to speak on your behalf. The lives of the duelists were inthe hands of their seconds. The seconds arranged the duel, and the details of the duel,such as: time, location, weapons to be used, and if the duel would be fought to the death.Since the seconds were negotiating for their friends' lives, if they found there to be abtdanger whatsoever, they would try to negotiate a way out of the duel. If the duels wereunavoidable, then the seconds would set the date.On the day of the fight, the seconds would accompany the duelists; the seconds wouldattempt one last time to avoid the duel, if their efforts were fruitless, the seconds would thenstand aside and let the duel commence. After the first hit, no matter how small the wound,the seconds would stop the duel and provide aid to the duelists. At this point, if the duelistwas injured to the point that he could not continue, the duel would end, unless the secondwished to step in and take the place of the injured duelist. Under the worst ofcircumstances, the duel would continue to the death.After the arrangements for the due were made, the duelists could spend weeks preparingfor the challenge; and because of this time spent preparing for the duel, there was a rise inthe need for swordmasters and fencing salles. Swordmasters during this time becamereknown for their skill, and were very popular amongst the ladies.There were many aspects of the swords, besides being a weapon. A sword was also wornlike a piece of jewelry, reflecting a man's social status and wealth. In this time period, aman was not considered a man unless he fought numerous duels to parade hismasculinity. Duels were numerous throughout the uppercrust in the eras of the 16th-18thCenturies.

In the 17th Century, the foil had become the training weapon of choice. The rules of rightaway were used as teaching techniques for the safety of pupils. The earliest historicalmention of the use of the foil was at the court of Louis XIV in about 1670 A.D. The foil wasdeveloped to entertain as well as hone the skills of a swordsman. The tip of a foil weredipped in iodine or vermillion to clearly show where a hit had been landed on the opponent.In the 19th Century, the outlawing of dueling was still being ignored and the Sabre had nowbeen introduced to the military and quickly became the sword of choice. The Sabre'scurved blade enabled it to be used on horse back. The Sabre would not get caught up onan enemies' body, but would go through it. Because the sabre was primarily a cuttingweapon men could be trained very easily to use one.The first electronic scoring equipment had appeared in the 1890's, but did not get finalapproval for competition until 1954.At the middle of the 19th Century, the sword was no longer apart of civilian dress.Because of the disarming of society, in conjunction with stronger legal institutions, duelingwent on a sharp decline. During this time, Fencing's focus had changed from survival, toamusement and sport.Basic fencing practices were ways to improve skills with minimal risk of injury. First came asafer weapon, which started with something like a single stick, which was a wooden dowelwith a woven basket hand guard; and over the years developed into the Foil. The Foil hada very flexible blade, that would lower the risk of injury to almost zero. Second, came themask, which started out as a piece of very thick leather, which was molded to the face, withthe eyes cut out. This protected the face, but left the eyes exposed. Once metal qualitiesimproved, craftsmen were then able to construct a safer metal mesh mask, which did notbecome common usage until the early part of the 19th Century. Third, came the fencinguniform which started out being a leather vest. Over the years, due to the increased safetyof the practice weapons, the uniform changed to white, heavy fabric. The color white waschosen for the uniform so that if a fencer was injured, blood would show immediately.In today's society there is dueling still taking place the way it did over 300 years ago.Fraternities in Austria and Germany called The Mensur, still practice the same blood lettingtraditions. The Mensur have developed a less deadly weapon to uphold the ideals ofdueling called the Schlaugher.In Schlaugher duels, there wasn't any foot movement, (to test bravery), and opponentswould continue fighting until someone was injured. These injuries would leave scars on theface and head, which were called a schmiz. These scars would show superiority. ManyGerman officers had facial scars obtained from this dueling process. Schauger deulists

would wear a long tunic made of either leather or chain mail, heavily padded arm sleevesand collar, and goggles to protect eyes.In 1896, fencing was at the first Olympic Games. Although only Foil and Sabre wereexhibited at the Olympic, the Epee shortly followed in 1900. In 1908, the French extendedthe Foil target to include the groin and the upper sword arm. The Olympic Committeeshortly there after, went back to the old target area. In protest to the Olympic Committee,the French withdrew from the 1912 Olympics for the sport of fencing. In 1924, women's foilbecame an Olympic sport, however women's Epee didn't become an Olympic sport until1996.Throughout history to present day, people have found passion and intrigue (includingsmall children playing with their wooden sticks) through swordsmanship as well as a right ofpassage.. A sword is unlike any other weapon. It dosen't jam and never runs out ofammo. Once you understand it, a sword truly becomes an extension of your own body.Nobody understands that more than your competition fencers of present day.http://www.swordsmen101.com/historyoffencing.html